Woman Called America’s Worst Mom For Leaving Kids Home Alone to Vacation

By: Alexander Burns | October 30, 2018

Erin Lee Macke has been dubbed ‘America’s Worst Mom’ after she left her four children, a 6-year-old girl, a 7-year-old girl and 12-year-old twins, alone at home while she went on vacation in Europe. To make matters worse, Ms. Macke also left an unsecured firearm and ammunition lying around the home in reach of the children.

Authorities were only alerted to Ms. Macke’s parental negligence after Iowa police received an anonymous tip about a mother leaving her children unattended for “days on end.” When police arrived at the Macke family home, they were astonished and disgusted by the mother’s lack of care and love for her children.

While police were searching Ms. Macke’s home and taking care of her children, the young mother was traipsing across Europe, posting joyful travel photos to Instagram. Among other places, the travel photos show Ms. Macke laughing and smiling in Germany, posing in front of the Regensburg Cathedral in German and the Walhalla Memorial in Bavaria.

One of the officers who arrived at Ms. Macke’s home, Johnston Police Lt. Tyler Tompkins, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Ms. Macke. “I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Lt. Tompkins said to KCCI.

“We have situations where parents go next door or parents may go out for the night, and while that’s not advisable either depending on the age of the children, obviously leaving the country is a totally different situation. This, where a parent has left the country and left the kids home alone, I’ve never heard of it before.”

To make matters worse, the uncaring parent seems to have no idea that what she did was wrong. When police tracked Ms. Macke down, they immediately contacted her and – thinking that she might not be aware of the situation – asked her if she knew her children had been left uncared for.

According to another Johnston Police Officer, Lynn Aswegan, Ms. Macke knew and didn’t care. “[Macke] “She didn’t understand or agree with the concern and felt comfortable that the kids were responsible enough to take care of themselves during that duration.”

When police demanded that Ms. Macke return to America, the Iowa woman laughed and told Johnston police officers that she couldn’t return for at least another seven days.

When she finally did arrive back on American soil, the irresponsible and cold-hearted mother was immediately arrested and charged with four counts of child endangerment with substantial risk. After police found an unloaded handgun and ammunition in the unsupervised house, these charges became far more serious.

Officer Aswegan is disgusted by Ms. Macke’s actions, telling KCCI: “There was nobody lined up to be with the children. Apparently [Macke] had talked to a couple of family members that earlier on had some conflicts watching the children during that time-frame, and gave them the indication she had it take care of.”

After the incident, Ms. Macke’s children have been removed from her care. The twins are currently being cared for by family members. Macke’s youngest children are now under the care of their father Matthew. After hearing about what his ex-wife did, Matthew told KCCI: “I wish I could say I am surprised, but I am not. In my eyes, it was a clear deliberate, intentional act.”